Single parent parenting

04 Mar, 2025

I just completed a one week trip where I was the lone parent to a one year old. Wife/mom had to work. I'm absolutely exhausted and glad it's over.

Adventures included:

1. After a smooth takeover, airplane ride, and landing, poor little Ollie had the car ride from hell from LAX to grandparents home--motion sickness, puking all her milk, puking bile all over the car, crying. I sat in the front to give grandma time but she wanted to hold my hand for comfort's sake, which resulted in my arm losing blood for sustained periods of time
2. Ollie doesn't want to be cared for by her grandparents. She just wants me. So the entire week is just her hanging around me, crying whenever I'm not there (including short bathroom trips where I close the door), and chasing me wherever I walk.
3. She's climbing on everything but not yet at the age where I can trust her to have any restraint or sufficient athletic balance.
4. When removed from climbing, 80% of the time will be an immediate return to climb said thing, and 20% of the time a massive crying tantrum
5. Waking before the sun is up at 5am and demanding to be taken of the crib, lest she wakes everyone up with a screeching tantrum
6. She doesn't let anyone hold her but me
7. She won't go anywhere without me
8. If she wakes up while sleeping and doesn't see me there--> massive tantrum.
9. On the way home, the baggage carousel had an hour long delay so we didn't have our stroller and I have to hold her/walk her that entire time while idling for our stuff.
10. Oh, the stroller broke on the way home. I don't even understand how.
11. The entire train ride home (didn't want to lug around a car seat so I didn't Uber/taxi), she's bouncing around me and trying to climb everything because she doesn't want to sit in the broken stroller.

This is the first trip I've taken out to California where I didn't drive even once because I just stayed at home because I was caring for her or just too tired.

Parenting is hard. I'm tired.

I made a mental note to buy puts Monday morning but I honestly forgot... market looks rough although we did bounce a bit. I'm still oscillating between wanting to return to trading and never wanting another thought about markets ever again.